Why Staging is Important

Imagine this: You walk into a gourmet restaurant, and order their most expensive steak. But while the waiter brings you the chef’s masterpiece, he trips. All the food falls onto another perfectly clean plate, and never touches the floor. But it’s all jumbled up now. So the waiter scoots all the portions into separate sides of the plate (it doesn’t look anything like what the chef had sent) and serves it to you anyway.

Now, it’s the same food, and nothing’s been added or subtracted. But it has a look about it…you might pay $10 for it, but you wouldn’t pay for a gourmet meal and want to eat this.

It’s All About Perspective

Any problems with the food are purely a matter of perception. It’s all in how you see it. And when you show your prospects your magnificent piece of property, it’s important to understand their perspective.

Who are you trying to sell to? If, for example, you’re trying to catch the eye of landlords, you should concentrate your staging efforts on showing that the property is extremely ‘rentable’. This might include keeping the house as bare as possible for the showings. Remove as much furniture and wall hangings. Paint in neutral colors. Try to display the ‘up-to-date’ features.
On the other hand, if you’re selling to families and want to attract the residential crowds, you’re trying to sell ‘livability’. While you would want to keep furniture to a minimum, you do want prospects to be able to envision themselves living happily there. A room without a sofa might look bigger, but it doesn’t look comfortable. Plain white paint might make the room look brighter, but not using some contrast looks too generic.

Understanding the Market

What it really boils down to is this: What are your prospects looking for? Find out what makes your market tick, and try to showcase those qualities.

What does all this do? It generally won’t increase the appraised price of your home, but it will often make it easier to sell for a reasonable price and in a shorter amount of time. Most of your prospects aren’t able to see ‘potential’ and besides, when something has ‘potential’, that means it isn’t what the prospect wants. Your goal is not to show prospects the potential, but to show them that you have exactly what they’re looking for.

If a prospect is looking for something with potential, they’re looking for something cheap. Something that they know they’ll have to spend a lot of time and money on. They’re looking for a handy-man special.

Finding Unique Selling Points

In the marketing game, one of the most important parts of selling is finding a unique selling point for your product. That is, something the consumer won’t find from any other brand.

Your home will sell faster, if you use the staging to demonstrate the qualities that aren’t found in other homes. For example, if you have beautiful bay windows that open to scenery, then adorn them with some nice curtains (opened of course, so prospects can see the view). Put a few chairs there, so a husband and wife can envision themselves watching the sunset together on a romantic evening.

The selling points of your home could be the positives that turn prospects into buyers, and the staging should set around them. Every detail should, in some way, complement the home.
Staging your home doesn’t always have to be expensive, and it’s only one of many parts of the selling process, but it’s an important part. Not staging will give prospects the idea that the home wasn’t well cared for…just as piling food on a plate carelessly gives the impression that it’s not gourmet.

Ed Williams,
Publisher
http://www.zerobrokerfees.com